


Somniphobia

by Cear_IK



Series: UnderErased [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Some Comfort, Emotional Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 05:19:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9705053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cear_IK/pseuds/Cear_IK
Summary: Somniphobiais the fear of sleep, where the person is afraid of falling asleep.I need to go write something fluffy after this.EDIT 2/19/17: The backstory is now up! Set in a series with oneshots stemming from it (like this one) to keep them all together. It'll explain a lot... but it's even more depressing than this one. It was my first fanfiction ever, but I swear the quality increases towards the end!





	

She watched the blade slide home, her whole being screaming against it, but she couldn't stop it.  ~~Just like the first time.~~ Finally, she wrested control of her own body from the other's soul, but control came to late. Horrified, she watched crimson start defiling the white shirt, before jerking her gaze up to meet his eyesockets. His empty,  _dusty_  eyesockets. 

"why... why did you..." The disbelief, the accusation, the  _betrayal_  in his voice was enough to make her feel her soul crack. ~~Even though her soul was already in pieces.~~  "... how could you..." Tears coursed down her cheeks. She desperately wanted to reply that she  _hand't_ , that she  _didn't_... but how could she? Even if it wasn't  _her_ intent behind the blade, it had been  _her_ hands,  _her_ lack of control... her  _failure_. She  _deserved_ the accusation in his voice,  _deserved_ his hate.  ~~He had forgiven her.~~ She could do nothing for him, could do nothing as she watched him turn to dust, watched his soul fracture into pieces,  _dust_. She could do nothing, just listen to the genocide soul laugh and laugh and laugh as she gazed at his jacket,  _filled with dust_.

***Well. That was fun, wasn't it? Guess we really do do good work, don't we, _Partner._**

Overwhelming pain filled her as she felt bits of her soul, her  _heart_ , get ripped away with her soulmate's death.  ~~It hurt just as unimaginably much the billionth time as it had the first.~~ Footsteps approached as she stood, clutching  ~~his~~ the jacket close to her ~~heart~~  chest. She turned to see Papyrus - sweet, innocent, naive Papyrus - glare at her with so much ill intent, it felt like a fist in the face. It was clear from his expression and his body language that Papyrus hated her with every fiber of his being, right down to his very core.

"YOU MURDERER. OF COURSE I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN IT WAS  _YOU_. I CAN'T SAY I AM SURPRISED. WHY SHOULD SOMEONE WHO'S MURDERED HALF THE UNDERGROUND COUNTLESS TIMES ACTUALLY HAVE A CONSCIENCE? I USED TO BELIEVE IN YOU A LONG TIME AGO. I BELIEVE IN YOU NO LONGER." Her body shook with the force of her pain, too hurt to even cry.  ~~This was wrong, it didn't happen like this~~ ~~.~~ Papyrus was and always had been dear to her heart- she had no walls, no defense against his words. "I SHOULD NEVER HAVE EVEN TRIED TO SAVE YOU. CLEARLY, YOU DO NOT DESERVE IT."

***Partner? No, you're not my partner. Even the annoying skeleton sees it. You're not my _partner_ \- you're my  _sister_. My sibling  _genocide soul_.**

The last vestiges of her sanity broke and she sank to the ground with a wail that could do nothing to relieve or even truly voice the pain inside her.

* * *

"emm?!"   
"MORGUE?!"  
**"emmy?!!"**  
**"MORGUE?!?"**  
"more!?!"

Voices, all calling out the various versions of her  ~~assumed~~ name with distress laden in their voices. It was the last voice - just as worried as the others - though, that made her come to full wailing, shrieking wakefulness. 

"HUMAN!!!"

Her magic responded instantly, having activated in response to her emotional duress some time ago, sweeping around her and pushing everyone  _away_ while she scrambled backwards until she fetched up against something- a wall- a corner. She heard someone wailing with such pain, heartbreak, and despair, it almost made her - the one who had numbed her own emotions until she couldn't feel anymore - want to cry. Then she realized that she was the one wailing and shut her mouth with a click.

"... more?" The voice was familiar, associated with  ~~bittersweet~~  not-bad memories. It was not usually a hesitant voice. "what do you feel? can you tell where you are?" She focused on the voice, on what she could feel against her, rather than the pain. It was never good to focus on the pain.  ~~It never went away, it never dulled.~~ The surface under her was soft- fabric. The fabric was rumpled, lumpy with several layers that were twisted together- sheets? She was on a bed? She was on a bed with her back against a wall, huddled in a corner. She wasn't lying on flowers. She wasn't in the snow. She wasn't in the Hall. 

"... may i touch you?" She opened her eyes. There were three Sanses in the room with her, but her focus honed in on the one closest to her. His blue jacket. White shirt. Basketball shorts. Gentle, white bones and precise white eyelights. It wa- It  _couldn't_ be him. He was dead, gone. She was so used to the process of false recognition when she saw a Classic Sans she didn't even feel disappointed anymore. Just the dull burn of apathy. The Underswap Sans - Blue - was hovering behind the Classic - Comic - while the Underfell - Red - kept the three Papyruses from entering the room. Or guarded them- it could be either or. Her magic couldn't harm - couldn't _touch_ \- a Sans,but it was a different story for anyone else. 

"more?" Oh yeah, Comic had asked her a question. 

".... yes..." Her voice sounded horrible, cracked. That's what happens when one screams one's self hoarse. Comic carefully gathered her up in a hug, cradling her body against his. This was weird. Normally, he didn't treat her like she was fragile and breakable, like she was glass. Normally, he treated her with distrust and just-hidden suspicion. What had changed?

 **"IS SHE- ...IS SHE ALRIGHT?"** Her sense of unease grew- Edge never, ever sounded unsure.

"I DO NOT BELIEVE SHE IS PHYSICALLY HARMED..." Blue's voice trailed off. Neither Red nor Stretch moved to reassure their brothers. That was wrong- this was wrong-

"breathe..... more." The familiar words resonating with an ancient memory grounded her. "breathe with me, more." She breathed with Comic, allowing him to control her breathing, knowing that otherwise she would forget to breathe. Breathing with him served to ground her more, concentrating on the rise and fall of his ribcage pushing the vestiges of the night terror from her mind. 

"IS SHE ALRIGHT, BROTHER?" Papyrus' voice made her jolt in the arms that held her. Comic didn't answer, his permagrin settling into a hard, flatter line. 

"....I'm alright" she croaked. If Comic wasn't going to reassure Papy-  _Rus_ , then she would. Red and Stretch made similar noises of disagreement. 

"hey bro? can you go to the store and get some stuff for more? blue? would you go with him?"

"YOU CAN DEPEND ON THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"  
"MY PLEASURE!"

The two innocent skeletons scurried off to the store, leaving the more worldly ones behind. Red came to sit on the bed while Stretch and Edge filtered into the room, now that it looked like she had calmed down enough to control her magic. With the boisterous skeletons gone, silence reigned. Eventually though, Stretch sighed and started the conversation.

"so... any idea what happened emm?"

"...I don't think I can get away with saying it was nothing?" Red snarled.

 **"i don' think you get it. yer were cryin', emmy. we've..."** Red coiled inward when his brother put a restraining hand on his shoulder, but Edge finished his sentence for him.

 **"WE'VE NEVER SEEN YOU CRY."** She made a face. 

"Sorry for worrying you." Both Papyruses and Red hissed angrily. Comic shifted his hold tighter.

"i don't think you get it, emm. most of us really do like you, even if we older brothers can't quite trust you. to see you crying was bad, but it wasn't just that- you..." Stretch took a shaky breath.

"your soul was flaking apart and dusting." Comic finished Stretch's quiet words when the taller skeleton couldn't seem to find the words. Her startled intake broke sync with Comic's steady breathing. Her soul shouldn't have been seen, let alone in the area. The damage didn't worry her. "we know you won't - can't - show it to us, so we won't ask you to." There was a small negative sound from one of the Fell brothers, but no one said anything. "we have to ask, though... what was wrong?" Her breathing picked up before she synced back to the even rise and fall of Comic's chest. 

"just- just a night-terror." All four skeletons growled this time, though how Comic managed it while continuing his steady breathing was beyond her.

 **"DON'T LIE TO US, MORGUE."** This time it was Red's turn to lay a restraining hand against his brother's arm.

**"if it was 'just a night-terror', we'd understand emmy. really, we would."**

"but night-terrors don't destroy the soul the way yours was, and they sure as hell don't sap hp." Nobody bothered to rag Stretch on his brother's habit to call him out on his language.

Nobody expected her to laugh. The skeletons regarded her with worry. She didn't blame them- her voice sounded horrible, and she just sounded insane.

"sorry." She coughed. "I'm just surprised." She declined to explain why she was surprised, but she guessed she did owe them an explanation for everything else. No wonder they were worried. "... It  _was_ a night-terror... mixed with a few highly unpleasant memories that I won't tell you about. Nothing that will physically harm me, but... I lost someone very, very important to me, and another very important person... well, he hates me. He has a good reason to, but it still...." Silence reigned once more, broken only when the two boisterous skeletons came back home.

"BROTHER! WE'VE RETURNED! WE COME BEARING GIFTS! LIKE TEA FOR THE HUMAN!"  
"AND HONEY! THE HONEY IS FOR HER THROAT, PAPY!!"  
"I WILL MAKE MY FAMOUS FRIENDSHIP PASTA!"  
"AND I CAN MAKE MY FRIENDSHIP TACOS!"

Stretch sighed, then took off down the stairs to go try to mitigate the disaster area in the kitchen. Red accompanied him to make sure he didn't fall to Blue's puppy eyes. 

 **"MAY I HOLD YOU?"** Morgue looked up, startled. Edge wasn't normally so subdued, nor did the self-assured skeleton normally ask about things. He looked so similar... but his eyes were orange-tinged red, not white or orange, and he wore black, not white. So she nodded, allowing the clawed gloves to carefully pick her up off Comic's lap. 

 _I didn't know Edge could be this gentle_ , she mused to herself, clinging to the scarred bone that cradled her against his chestplate as the tall skeleton followed Comic down the stairs to face the culinary masterpieces. 

**Author's Note:**

> Somniphobia might reflect an underlying anxiety disorder or depressive disorder. 
> 
> **Names:**  
>  "HUMAN" - Classic Papyrus (Rus)  
> "more" - Classic Sans (Comic)  
> "emm" - Swap Papyrus (Stretch)  
> "MORGUE" - Swap Sans (Blueberry)  
>  **"emmy"** \- Fell Sans (Red)  
>  **"MORGUE"** \- Fell Papyrus (Edge)


End file.
